London

Sep 2-6, 2023
AC8878 YYZ-EWR, UA16 EWR-YYZ, UA17 LHR-EWR, AC8883 EWR-YYZ

When you plan trips far in advance, things can change pretty significantly. Between the time I booked this trip last December and when I took it, pretty much everything changed. It started as a points round trip ticket from Los Angeles to London, where we added a side trip to the Isle of Man, and ultimately ended as a round-trip flight from Toronto to London with no side trip. Some of the changes were improvements and others were unplanned disappointments, but overall it was a great trip.

Sep 2

In addition to being a very reasonable number of Aeroplan points when available, the advantage of flying United to Europe is that you get access to the Polaris Lounge, which serves one of our favourite wines and a nice table service. Unfortunately, Newark has a huge bank of evening flights so we had to fight for a seat, but did make the most of it.

Enjoying a glass of Prisoner Red with our pre-flight meal

After enjoying the Polaris lounge, we made our way to our London flight and headed quickly to sleep for the majority of the flight.

Sep 3

On arrival after immigration we headed directly to the United Arrivals lounge for a shower and breakfast. I love that London has this option, as you never know if a hotel room will be ready when you’re arriving on an overnight flight. Refreshed, we headed to the hotel on the new Juibilee Tube service. For a change, this time we were staying a new Hyatt for us on the east end of town, which is not a place we’d spent any time before. It was quite well located, and let us enjoy new parts of the city including checking out some Olympic sites we’d never seen.

Jack the Ripper location in East London

Tower Hill

The Tower of London

Monument of the Great Fire of London

London Bridge

The Shard

City of London skyline

Goldings House

"The Navigators" sculpture

Checking out the Olympic Sites - London Aquatics Centre in Stratford

ArcelorMittal Orbit sculpture and observation tower in Olympic Park

Stratford Waterford

After dinner, the view from Stratford station

Sunset view of Canary Wharf skyline from Hyatt Place rooftop

After enjoying the roof top drinks at the hotel, we collapsed for the night.

Sep 4

For our second night, we upgraded our Hyatt experience to the iconic Churchill Hotel on the West End. However, before swapping locations, we spent more time in the East End. Once relocated, we headed for Parliament and the Palace of Westminster. To fully get the West End experience, we also booked theatre tickets to end the day.

Together Forever on Wheels, a sculpture by Gillie and Marc, part of a series we've viewed around the world.

Bronze Elephant Sculpture

"Herd of Hope" sculpture, Spitalfields

Christ Church, Spitalfields

Walking down Brick Lane in East London

Brick Lane mural

Fashion Street Arcade

"Dreph" street art

Providence Row Night Refuge

Leaden Hall Market

Waterloo Bridge as we walk along the Thames

One of two Cleopatra's Needles, a separated pair of ancient Egyptian obelisks, divided between London and NYC

Statue of the Sphinx at Cleopatra's Needle

Big Ben

11th Century Westminster Hall

Checking out a royal carriage before visiting the House of Parliament

Looking back on Big Ben as we exit Parliament

Another perspective from across the Thames

The London Eye, still impressive after all those years

Ready for Back to the Future at the West End Palladium Theatre

After some refreshment in the Hyatt Club, we headed to Trafalgar Square and the theater to see Back to the Future. It was definitely not a complex story, but we did enjoy the spectacle of the show — it was a lot of fun and the staging was very impressive.

Sep 5

Having noticed the large number of new skyscrapers in the City of London, we decided it was worth a closer look. A number of the new buildings were also required to provide public spaces on their roofs, which made for an inexpensive way to enjoy some great views. Not too far from there, we made our way back to the Tate Modern. Finally, in the afternoon, we made our way to our hotel in Canary Wharf, close to London City, for our morning flight to Isle of Man, before meeting friends in South Dock.

"The Walkie-Talkie" at 20 Fenchurch St in City of London

Across the Thames from the Sky Garden at the top of the tower

London Bridge

Naval presence

Looking toward St. Paul's Cathedral

Looking West with the London Eye in the distance

The interior of the Sky Garden

Very impressive for a free gallery

View of the Gherkin (30 St Mary Axe) from The Garden at 120

Lloyds and Leadenhall buildings, our last City of London skyscraper destination

The Bank of England

National Firefighters Memorial

One Blackfriars residential tower

Looking back at St. Paul's, crossing the Thames on the Millennium Bridge

Exterior of the Tate Modern, before we entered

View of St. Paul's from the Tate

Babel 2001 Sculpture in the Tate

Very cool "Upside Down" sculpture

More of the Tate interior before we head out

Last look up the Thames before we check out of the Churchill and move to Canary Wharf

Area around our hotel in Canary Wharf

After a great dinner and drinks with university friends now living in the London area, we made our way back to the hotel expecting to fly to the Isle of Man early in the morning. However, when we got back to the hotel we received notice that our morning flight was cancelled. We’d been pushed back to a flight later in the day, but was going to not leave much time to visit, and also left some anxiety about the potential of cancelling our flight back to London on the way home. Luckily, I was able to find space back to Toronto the next day via Newark, so we decided to cut the trip short and head directly home.

Sep 6

We had a relatively early flight to Newark, so we headed to the airport after breakfast and relaxed in the lounge before our flight. The flight was great, and we had a few more glasses of Prisoner Red in the Newark Polaris Lounge on the layover before heading home and back to the kittens.